Nüwa was the Yan Emperor’s favorite and youngest daughter. She loved to play near the sea. One day, as Nüwa flew over the East China Sea, the sea became rough all of a sudden. The waves came one after another. Each wave was taller than the previous one. Suddenly, a whirlpool appeared in the sea. Nüwa could not escape in time, and was sucked into the vortex. Yan Emperor kept calling his daughter’s name,“Nüwa! Nüwa ~”But she was never seen again.

One day, a little bird appeared over the East China Sea. It had a beautiful pattern on its head, a white beak, and a pair of red feet. It vaguely resembled a raven, and kept calling its own name,“Jingwei, Jingwei…”Nüwa’s spirit had turned into this bird.

Jingwei lived on Fajiu Mountain, which was covered in Chinese Mulberry trees. Every day, she picked small stones or twigs, flew to the East China Sea, and threw them into the sea. Day after day, rain or shine, the little bird carried on, and determined to fill the sea.

The deity of the East China Sea heard about the little bird, and asked the bird angrily,“Why do you want to fill the East China Sea? Why do you hate me so much?”The bird replied,“Because you took my life while I was still so young, and you will continue to take many more lives.”The deity laughed loudly and said,“Give up, little bird! Even if you keep throwing stones and twigs for a thousand years or ten thousand years, you won’t fill me up!”Jingwei uttered a plaintive cry and said,“I won’t give up! Be it a thousand years or ten thousand years, I will never stop trying to fill the East China Sea!”

Since then, the Jingwei bird kept carrying stones from Fajiu Mountain to fill the East China Sea, and continues to do so today.

　　女娃是炎帝最寵愛的小女兒，她最喜愛到海上遊玩。有一天，女娃在東海上遨遊，突然，海面起了變化，打了一陣一陣大浪，浪濤也越打越高，這時海上出現了一個漩渦，女娃來不及逃走，就被吸入了漩渦裡，炎帝在海面上一直呼喚女兒：「女娃，女娃！」可是都沒有再見到女娃的身影。
　　後來，在東海上出現了一隻小鳥，頭上有花紋，嘴巴是白色的，腳是紅色的，樣子有點兒像烏鴉，它的叫聲就是自己的名字「精衛、精衛」，這隻鳥就是女娃的靈魂變成的。
　　精衛住在布滿拓木林的發鳩山上，每天銜著小石子或者小樹枝，飛到東海，把石子或樹枝投下去，日復一日，不管是大太陽還是下雨天，以鍥而不捨的精神，就是想將東海填平。
　　管東海的海神知道後，很生氣地說：「你為什麼要把東海填平？你為什麼這麼恨我？」精衛鳥回答說：「因為你奪走了我年輕的生命，而且你還想要再奪走千千萬萬的年輕生命。」海神大笑說：「算了吧，小鳥兒！你就算填一千年、一萬年，也填不平我呀！」精衛用悲傷的聲音大叫：「我要填！我要填！一千年、一萬年地填下去。」
　　從此就看到精衛鳥從發鳩山至東海，銜石投石，永無休止。